I’m at Centrair Airport, about to board the plane back to Germany. I had a great time in Ise and a few other places around Japan. So long, and thanks for everything! I’ll be back. 😉
Quick Update on Kyūbunhama
Sorry to jump from sightseeing in Ise to a serious topic so suddenly, but I’m in Sendai right now, just got back from dinner with friends from the time I spent here as an exchange student, and one of them is the coordinator of the volunteer work I participated in after the tsunami in 2011. Of course, I used the opportunity to ask her about the current situation in Kyūbunhama and the surrounding area.
The gist of what she told me is this: People live mostly in temporary housing, while higher ground is being prepared for permanent buildings. In some places construction of permanent homes might start this year, but she didn’t seem sure about that. Life in the temporary buildings brings some troubles, including lack of space and bad insulation, leading to cold homes in winter and hot ones in summer. A big social issue is that existing neighborhoods have been broken up, which means that people — especially older people — are at risk of getting socially isolated.
They currently try to help by offering tea time with everyone who wants to come to give people an opportunity to talk, and distributing vegetables (I assume to encourage healthy eating, or maybe just to be nice).
Presentation on “Ise and Japan” Experience
Today is the second to last day of the “Ise and Japan” study program at Kogakkan University, and every participant was asked to give a presentation on a topic related to the program. I decided to choose “神仏習合”, or “Shinto-Buddhist syncretism”, because that was the most surprising thing I learned during the program.
Continue reading “Presentation on “Ise and Japan” Experience”
Tsukemono Factory
Monday (March 10) after lunch, we took a train to 明野 (Akeno), a more rural part of Ise, and visited 林商店 (Hayashi-shōten), a company that makes 伊勢沢庵 (Ise-takuan, Ise style pickled daikon radish) and other 漬物 (tsukemono, Japanese pickled vegetables).
Inside this shed, tsukemono are ripening in big barrels. Well, some in small barrels, but the big ones are more impressive. 😉
Yasaka-jinja (Kyoto, Part 2)
After visiting the Nō theater on Sunday morning, we went on to 八坂神社 (Yasaka-jinja), a large shrine in Kyoto’s famous Gion area.
The shrine looks kind of unusual at first glance: Its buildings resemble Buddhist temples, and the entrance we used even has a temple style gate instead of a torii. There are torii inside the shrine and the way we used to exit has one too, but that is still unusual.
A Lesson in Noh (Kyoto, Part 1)
On Sunday morning (March 9) we went from our Hotel in Kyoto to 河村能楽堂 (Kawamura Nōgakudō), a 能 (Nō, often written as Noh) theater. Nō has a long tradition since its initial development about 600 years ago, and with its frequent use of music and dance it can be seen as traditional Japanese musical.
Recommend Reading: Geku
Two of my friends have also written about our visit to the 外宮 (Geku), each with a different focus, and I recommend you read their posts. You can find excerpts below, and both have more interesting things on their blogs. 😉
Puckchan writes about the shrine’s history, customs surrounding it, art and so on.
“Pilgrims and visitors reached the Ise Jingu by land and not by sea, which also means that they were passing the four rivers in order to reach the Naiku or three in order to reach the Geku. The outer two were considered to be the outer border of the Shrine, the Kongo river being the distant border and the Hare river being the near border. The third river, Miya river, was used as a place of purification before visiting the Shrine.
The Saio travelled to the Shrine 3 times per year and stopped first at the Rikyu-in, going from there to Geku and then to Naiku.”
— From “Geku and rain” by Puckchan
Lars has more photos, and something that should be interesting for anyone who’s interested in ancient Japanese swords.
“An interesting thing among the holy treasures of Amaterasu-Omikami was her sword that is quite different from any Japanese sword I have seen before. It combines aspects of the Katana or Tachi with the older form of Tsurugi.”
— From “Geku -– second main shrine of Ise” by Lars
Enjoy!
Ship Trouble
This we afternoon we got lost at sea, or more precisely stuck in the middle of a harbor. We went to 大湊 (Ōminato), a harbor and shipbuilding area. I’ll get back to the chronological order soon, but the trouble has to get out immediately. Bad news is good news, as newspaper people say.
So here’s what happened: We boarded a nice little wooden ship to take us to an island in front of the harbor, were further spots to visit would be. The ship was just big enough to carry our group and the two crew members, and they had decorated it with flags of all the exchange students’ nations. After getting well away from the landing place, the motor stuttered and stopped. The crew managed to restart it, but a short time later the same thing happened again, and this time their efforts were in vain.
So, what to do? We weren’t far from land, so a phone call was enough to get a rescue operation going. In the meantime, we had to push the ship away from some pillars marking shallow water (the ground looked close enough to walk there). Soon enough, we could see another boat approaching, and after some work ours was safely moored to it. In the end they tugged us to the place we were scheduled to go, just a bit later. It was quite a memorable experience. 🙂
Thanks to this trouble I ended up spending the time at which the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred three years ago (14:46) at sea. And while that is not necessarily where I would choose to remember an earthquake that caused a devastating tsunami, the disruption of the busy sightseeing schedule was welcome: I could just turn my face to the sea, ignore everything around me, and take a moment to remember and silently pray for Tohoku.
Nara Express Tour
Saturday morning (March 8) we took a train from Ise to 奈良 (Nara). Nara is a very old city and was the capital of Japan during the aptly named Nara period in the 8th century, although technically there was a short intermission.
Our first destination, just a few minutes walk from the Kintetsu Nara Station, was 興福寺 (Kōfuku-ji temple), which has several old buildings. The thing about these old buildings is that (at least) most of them burnt down at some point or another and were reconstructed — some centuries ago, but two halls are being reconstructed right now, with completion scheduled for 2018. After hearing similar stories about other temples later during the day, it kind of seemed like most of old Nara burned down at some point or another and was reconstructed. Those red boxes in front of the 東金堂 (Tōkon-dō, East Golden Hall) are there for a reason… 😉
Kawasaki: An Old Trading Area
Yesterday (March 6) after lunch, we went to 河崎 (Kawasaki), a part of Ise along 勢田川 (Setagawa River) that used to be an important area for trading, especially in fish, rice and sake. For reasons unknown to me, the university had arranged for taxis to take us there, although from the map I’d guess it wouldn’t have taken more than 15 to 20 minutes to walk.
Tower of Air 